60-year-old dancer becomes internet hero

It is not just another music video clip to promote another pop song. Glenn Bruno’s touching story caught the eye of London-based DJ Alex Metric, who decided to adopt it for his new single ‘Heart Weighs A Ton’.

The video starts with the 60-year-old Los Angeles resident sitting on the edge of his bed, saying: “The love of my life Robin passed away five years ago, I became very depressed. But three years ago, I dedicated myself to follow my dreams of being a performer, a dancer. And that’s why I do it. I dance for Robin.”

After seeing a casting call for people passionate about dancing, Bruno submitted an audition tape for the ‘Heart Weighs a Ton’ project. At the live audition, he danced to James Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’ and got the job.

“It’s all too often that, for electronic dance songs, the videos are generally pretty throwaway, kind of jokey, hot girls with not much on – that sort of vibe, you know,” says DJ Alex Metric.

“And especially with the song ‘Heart Weighs a Ton,’ we were trying to bring some weight to… something that actually means something to the song. To have a video that compliments it like that, we were so lucky to find him. We were trying to write a song that was far more universal than just like a boy-girl love song, which often seems to be the way, on dance tracks. We wanted to write a song that anyone could relate to, that was more than being in love, it was about friendship and supporting people, and… yeah, just trying to move away from the sad love song,” he adds.

Although the video was originally supposed to feature three story lines, director Jack Wagner says he soon realised Bruno’s story was compelling enough to carry it on its own.

The inspiring clip has not only fulfilled Bruno’s dream of becoming a dancer but also scored more 125,000 views on YouTube.